2025-2026 Lecture series jewish-islamic resonances

The Judeo-Arabic work al-Hidāya ilā farāʾiḍ al-qulūb, which became wide spread and influential in Jewish thought under the Hebrew title Ḥovot ha-Levavot (Duties of the Heart), was written by Baḥya ibn Paquda, who served as a judge (dayyan) in the Jewish community of Saragossa. In its Andalusian context, Ibn Paquda’s seminal work serves as prime example for an important insight regarding the spreading of ascetic and mystical trends in al-Andalus. The examination of this work provides plenty of evidence for the assumption that by the second half of the 11 th century, the role played by the eastern-Muslim ascetic trend (zuhd) in the shaping of Andalusian thought and practices was considerably greater than the one played by the eastern-Mystical Sufi trend.